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"id": 385663,
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"speaker_name": "Sen. Orengo",
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"legal_name": "Aggrey James Orengo",
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"content": "Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity. Before I forget, I want to thank Members of the Senate for passing the Motion that I moved earlier today. I also want to congratulate Sen. Musila for bringing this very important Motion. If you did not know, and I wish to remind the Senators, that many parliamentarians have lost elections on the issue of roads; that certain roads have not been done or the condition of the roads in a particular constituency are not up to standards. Indeed, the only hon. Member of Parliament who I have known to have lost an election on account of bringing a tarmac road to his constituency was in Ukambani, when Gen. Mulinge in a general election I think in 2002, was talking about a road he had done in his constituency. Unfortunately, because the issue of reforms pre-dominated the politics of the period, the electorate did not make much of that road. Most of Kenya is inaccessible, our rivers are not navigable, the conditions of our rail roads, as we know, are dilapidated. If I can remind you, in the old days, I could travel by train from Mombasa to Nairobi to Kisumu; I could either go through Bungoma or go up to Butere, but that section of the rail road is completely out of use, particularly the one from Kisumu to Butere. So, roads play a very important function in our economy and even for the ordinary people. So, Sen. Musila, I think you have done us proud on this one because if this Motion is implemented, we can take account of what programmes are going on, not only nationally, because the Senate is not just for the counties, but also in our particular counties and in the constituencies so that you will be able to determine whether there is equitable distribution of road network in the whole country. I, for one, can say that in Siaya – Take note of the analysis that Sen. Musila has passed around, which is very useful – it shows that we are somewhere in the middle of the list in terms of the counties which have got good road network or which have got paved roads. But to some extent, that particular schedule is also misleading because you know on paper, according to the records of Government, you may be told there is a tarmac road between point A and B, but when you drive through that road, you would wish that you better be on a rough road! There was a time when I used to go to Lodwar a lot, doing cases there, and there used to be a tarmac road between Kitale and Lodwar. So, two years later when I thought I would use the same road going to Lodwar, there is nothing you could call a tarmacked road between, I think Makutano and Lodwar. So, although that list that has been passed around may be a good indicator, even some of these paved roads cannot go for that kind of classification. To that extent, I may want to agree with some of my colleagues – even from the central part of Kenya, where I lived for so many years going to school – that, for example, there were roads between Nairobi and Kikuyu on which we used to travel and which were done during the colonial days. While I was at Alliance High School, ten years down the line, some of those roads just got worn out. I think we just have to be objective on this issue because without any part of Kenya being accessible, the entire economy suffers. The fact that we cannot reach The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}